


the trial of the trail

by classof1832



Category: Trails - Thomson/Mann/Hall
Genre: Gen, Wordcount: 100-500, appalachian trail
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-01
Updated: 2017-10-01
Packaged: 2019-01-07 18:45:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12238581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/classof1832/pseuds/classof1832
Summary: The Trail knows all.





	the trial of the trail

**Author's Note:**

> I burned this out yesterday evening after I saw the show; that usually doesn't happen. Also this is the first fic I've finished in over a year. Go figure.
> 
> The title comes from the fact that I accidentally spelled "trail" as "trial" in the beginning of the first draft.
> 
> Side note: #FaithIsARedheadForever
> 
> Trails is the property of Jeff Thomson, Jordan Mann, and Christy Hall. I own nothing.
> 
> *edited on 10/17/17, after I saw the show a second time because it’s that good.

The Trail knows all.

The moment a hiker steps onto The Trail, she winds through their feet, further, further, until she burrows into the secret corners of their heart and they cannot hide; there is no way for them to.

The Trail resists Time – Time is a lover The Trail will not willingly embrace – but the hikers, carrying far more burdens than simple backpacks, introduce it nonetheless. Even when The Trail does her best to overpower them, they insist on bringing Time along, so The Trail sighs in the voice of the wind and allows, begrudgingly, for Time to, if not fall into The Trail’s arms, then at least to coexist. Eventually, however, they manage to come to a not-entirely-comfortable but not-awful-either understanding. For the sake of the hikers. Of course.

All hikers believe they travel either alone, or with the companions they can see beside them; the newest hikers, Seth and Mike, are no different. The Trail knows this to be a lie. There is a third walking beside these two, her light footsteps soundless beneath the patter of the rain.

_Amy_.

For a long while Seth and Mike do not acknowledge her presence to each other; that comes much later. But privately they see her memory sitting beside the fire, meeting the curious characters of The Trail along with them, gazing at the stars as the men tentatively trade the stories written in the heavens, back and forth.

There are others that occasionally surface, as well. Two of particular importance:

  1. the memory of a Mother who finally is put to rest, after an unusual encounter involving roleplay and the encouragement that a road, not necessarily Allentown, Pennsylvania, can be a home.
  2. and there is The Baby That Briefly Was, of uncertain parentage but not uncertain of the love that Queen Captain, Scribbles, and Meathead had for them, for the short time their existence was known. The Baby appears in the minds of both Mike and Seth at different times, and then to both after the fight, to say, for different reasons: _I forgive you_.



At the end, when Seth and Mike gaze at the sunrise and find peace between themselves and the unknown, The Trail knows her job is done. Not all hikers heal during their journey (dare she say, _trial_ ) with her, but when certain hikers like these men do, The Trail, like a mother, smiles and lets them go on their way.

She will always be here if they need her again.


End file.
